Foodie Friday ~ Lemon Chicken

Hi everyone!

I have a very easy and delicious entree to share with you today for

"FOODIE FRIDAY"

hosted by our very gracious friend at
Designs by Gollum.
Please visit her delightful blog after your visit here,

to feast your eyes on whatever she and the other participants are cooking up for today's event!

"LEMON CHICKEN"

Ingredients:
6-8 pieces of chicken
2 lemons
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. morton season salt
3 Tbl. canola oil (or enough to cover bottom of pan)
1 chicken bouillon cube or equivalent
3 Tbl. brown sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 cup of water
chopped green onion (optional)
*****

Rinse chicken, squeeze the juice of 1 and a 1/2 of lemons onto chicken pieces, set aside.
Heat oil in skillet.
Mix flour and season salt in large plastic bag.
Add chicken a piece at a time to bag and shake to coat.
Place pieces in hot oil and brown.

While chicken is browning.....

Dissolve the chicken bouillon with one cup of boiling water, then add to that, brown sugar, grated lemon peel, and the remaining juice from lemon, then stir to mix.

After chicken has browned on both sides, pour the above mixture over the chicken. Bring just to a boil then cover and simmer for approx. 45 min. turning pieces over halfway through cooking time. Sauce should be "slightly" thickened when done. If not, remove cover and let reduce to thicken.

Garnish with green onion if you wish.

(click pic to enlarge)
This dish is one of my families favorites.
I hope your family will like it as well!

Thanks for visiting!

Have a happy Foodie Friday!!

Thrifty Treasures & Met Monday~Table and Chairs

Today I'm participating in Metamorphosis Monday with our very sweet and talented hostess

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

and....

I'm also joining the many other thrifty treasure hunter participant's along with our delightful hostess

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

After your visit here please be sure and visit Rhoda's blog and Susan's blog

and the other nifty thrifty participant's.

This rattan chair I bought at the G/W. It had really awful cushions on it that did not go with it. I made these cushions with the same fabric that I've used throughout my kitchen. I got the designer fabric for 3.00 a yd. at Wally World. Then trimmed them with a red checked piping.

The wrought iron plant stand was a yard sale find. The little table was made from a wicker bottom and a piece of cut marble a bought at a T/S. It worked well because the chair sits very low to the floor.

The lamp in this vignette I bought from a T/S, it was an awful shade of green, with an ugly old lamp shade. I painted the base white and then antiqued it. I bought a new lampshade and covered it in red checked fabric and trimmed the edges in dark green.

The little tassel I found at the dollar store. I antiqued the gold paint to give it a more depth and richness then removed the cheapy looking faux red jewels that were on it too.


This cute little occasional table above, I found at the same local T/S that I found the lamp at. The tabletop items I bought at local discount stores a couple of years or so ago.

The finish on the table was in very bad condition, so I painted it white. I really liked the design, but I thought it needed a little something extra....

Some ball feet!!! of course! so I added some!

I thought it was the perfect touch! Don't you think so too?

Now this chair was a real treasure I found at a junk store! It was painted dark brown and the bottom for the seat was gone.
I cut and put in a piece of plywood for the seat, then painted it white, and added a bit of crackling here and there.
I love to mix up patterns for that eclectic look.
So I put together this toile seat cushion I made with a vintage bark cloth throw pillow I made as well.
*****
Btw, did you happen to notice a certain particular farm animal in each picture??
I give you hint....
If I don't get to bed soon I may hear one crowing! hee hee hee!
*****
Well I hope you enjoyed your visit!
I hear my pillow calling me!
So gotta go for now....
Stay cool, Sweet friends!!

Happy 4th of July ~ Americana Style

This is my Americana Room!

*****

I've been waiting for the 4th of July to post it!
Now it's finally just a couple days away.

Above is my antique trunk I got from a yard sale, in perfect red and blue tones to fit the Americana look!

Oh and here's the heart flag I made, that you might remember from an earlier post.
Teddy bears and Americana go together so well!

I guess I'm just a big kid a heart because I just love teddy bears....

Okay I have a thing for stuffed bunnies,

and dolls too!!!

Aren't these the cutest Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls?!!
They're extra special because my mom gave them to me!

Here's all kinds of goodies in this display!

More teddies of course, Uncle Sam nutcracker, antique kerosene lamp,

a game board I made, and large enamel pitcher filled with geraniums.

This large country flag I made from old wood lattice fencing left over
from what used to enclose our pool equipment.

It was very simple to make!

I added the pole with an old ducks head I got at an antique store.
 

                                          I felt a little like Betsy Ross when I made this flag.

Do you think she would approve? hee hee.

This quilt was rescued by me when my neighbor threw it out!!

She's the same neighbor who threw out the screen door that I rescued among ....other things.

A few more bears here, a neat antique lamp on the wall,

oh and don't miss the flying pig that

I made with my handy jigsaw and some scrap wood hanging on the wall behind the bed!!
*****
Thanks for stopping by for a peek at my Americana room,

and I hope you all have a really fun and safe 4th of July holiday!!

Flaunt Your Red~ Morning Glory Pillow

Thanks for joining me for another
"Flaunt Your Red Party Event"!!
Hosted by
Miss Nancy at Southern Lady.
Please be sure to visit her and her beautiful blog!!
Oh! and don't forget to check out the list of all the other red flaunting participants!!

Today I wanted to share with you some RED pillows that I made.
(and my pretty quilt that I didn't make!)
This Morning Glory (red work) box pillow is one of those projects I started but I didn't finally get around to finishing until yesterday!!

But I'm thrilled to get it finished Yay!!

I believe the white fabric I used is called duckcloth. For the Morning Glory design I used Aunt Martha's iron on transfer. The lettering was inspired from
lettering on this seed packet,

and then transfered onto the material. Then I used a thick cotton type thread to do the embroidery. Finishing it off with some thin red piping around the edges.


I embroidered the pillow with a simple chain stitch.

The rectangular cross stitch pillow (in the photo below on the right) was someone else's unfinished project that they donated to the thrift store.


The cross stitch part was completed on a piece of fabric, but I guess they did'nt know what to do with it after that!


I saw it and loved the vintage look, and said hey that would make a great pillow! So I bought it and added the red fringe trim, and batting and voila!
Cute vintage pillow!

The red and white checked plaid pillow was also a thrifty find. They were just two fringed napkins to begin with. Too easy to make into a pillow, just sew the two together and stuff, I didn't even have to add trim!


When I thrift shop I always try to keep in mind what an item has the potential to become, not just what it is.


Well friends I hope you enjoyed my little red pillow party!!



Thanks again for stopping by.
Have a wonderful day!!

Easy 4th of July Crafts Project~

This is a fun and easy holiday project to do yourself

or with the kids or grandkids!

First you'll need to make your pattern. You can use newspaper or whatever. Remember how we all learned to make a heart shape? Fold the paper in half and cut half the shape of the heart then open up. The size of the heart I made is about 10 1/2 inches tall by 12 1/2 inches wide.

You'll need to make a pattern first because you dont want to have a crease down the center of your finished heart, plus you'll need one to determine where your first horizontal line goes. To do that you'll need to fold down the top of the heart pattern, lining up the center crease to get your first straight line as shown below.

Once you have your pattern made, you'll need some heavy brown paper. I used the type you can buy on a roll for wrapping parcels, but you can also use the unprinted side of a paper grocery bag.

Then trace your heart shape from your pattern onto 2 pieces of the brown paper.

Next with your pattern folded over to the first horizontal line, mark the project heart lightly in pencil ( I used a dark pen so you could see it better) and using a straight edge.

I love using a clear quilters ruler (I think every crafty person should have one) whether you quilt or not!

It makes it sooo easy to measure off your lines on projects!

I made my lines for the stripes 1 inch wide. Measuring from that "first line" in both directions.

Then paint as I did in my example using acrylic paints. I used Liberty blue, Antique White, and Red Iron Oxide (barn red would work too). Once the paint is dry, stencil your stars onto the blue area. Then using an acrylic antiquing medium, lightly antique over the paint.

To antique I use a moist small piece of sponge with just a dab of the antiquing medium worked into to it. Then gently dab and wipe until you reach your desired result.

Then to create a stitched look around the edges use a thin tipped marking pen, drawing little dashes like you see in my example. Then take some white glue and glue the inside edges of the 2 heart shapes, leaving about a 3 inches unglued on the side of each the heart to create an opening.

press the 2 together and let dry.

Then in the opening add some crafters batting to poof it up like a pillow, but not too full. Then seal the opening with more glue. You might need some clothes pins to hold it closed until glue dries.

Oh, and last but not least, poke two small holes at the top of the heart, and use some twine and insert through holes and make a knot.

Now you're ready to hang your patriotic heart anywhere you choose!

Like maybe your front door!

I have mine hanging in my

Americana room on my antique trunk.
Have Fun!